'Guarantee' of giving Rs 1,000 to women will be fulfilled, says Punjab finance minister

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday informed the Assembly that the state government will fulfil the "guarantee" of giving Rs 1,000 to women.

His statement came after the opposition parties accused the Bhagwant Mann government of not fulfilling the pre-poll promise of giving Rs 1,000 each month to women in the state.

Responding to issues raised by the MLAs during a debate on the state budget, Cheema said the state government has fulfilled four out of five "guarantees", including free electricity and the opening of 'aam aadmi clinics'.

"We implemented four guarantees out of five within two years. One guarantee related to women is pending. I am saying this with full responsibility in the House that this guarantee will also be fulfilled," the state finance minister told the House.

Taking on the opposition Congress MLAs, Cheema said they were not aware of the fulfilment of these four "guarantees" as they are related to the common people of the state.

Because most of the MLAs of the Congress party belong to the "elite" category, they neither visit 'aam aadmi clinic', nor do their children study in government schools, he claimed.

Rejecting the opposition's claims that the budgetary allocation for the education sector has decreased, Cheema said, adding that on the contrary there was an 11.5 per cent increase in funds for education.